a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Game 81 Recap

Contrary to what the AP would have you believe, Carlos Boozer did not lead the Jazz to victory today.

At first I just kept wondering how come the Rockets were able to get open shots in the paint time and time again. It became clear in the 3rd, when the Rockets began throwing the ball to Scola in the paint on every possession for the first six minutes (Boozer was subbed out at around the 6-minute mark) and he scored 90% of the time. It was because–surprise, surprise–Boozer was on him and just stood there like a statue every time. Not even a hand in the face.

The Rockets have amazing defensive intensity. I can only look on in envy.

It’s very strange to feel an impending sense of doom when you see someone from your team in the game. I’ve never been disgusted, much less so disgusted, by the play of someone on my own team. Boozer does not play with heart. He doesn’t care whether his team wins or loses. All that’s in his mind is “shoot when someone passes it to me, rebound when the ball falls into my hands.” And that’s it. How can the Jazz win when they’re playing 4-on-5 on the defensive end for 40/48? Is Boozer little better than K-Mart, who took himself out of the last game by fouling and then heading directly to the bench? (That’s saying a lot when you know how much I –<3– (note to self: look up html strikethroughs) K-Mart.)

I mean, I got to the point a few months ago when I couldn’t even stand having him on my fantasy team. Boozer has a great deal more fantasy value than real life value, but I just couldn’t take what he was doing in real life anymore. Even if he still got his double-double stats 75% of the time, I couldn’t keep him on my team knowing what he was actually doing (or not doing) in games. It was just a permeation of disgust within me. I couldn’t root for him anymore, so he needed to go. That was it.